The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has appointed a Nigerian, ‘Gbenga Sesan, to serve on his inaugural Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Leadership Panel.
Sesan, who is the executive director of the Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a Pan-African digital rights and inclusion organisation, bagged the appointment as an endorsement to his role in expanding digital rights and freedoms on the continent, PIN stated on Wednesday.
The PIN boss was appointed alongside other eminent personalities, according to the statement.
“Sesan welcomed the appointment saying he was honored and looking forward to serving the world alongside the high-level leaders and also influencing digital policy globally,” it said.
The UN Secretary-General had said the panel was established as a strategic, empowered and multi-stakeholder body to support and strengthen the IGF, which is in line with the forum’s mandate and its roadmap for digital cooperation.
“The Panel will address strategic and urgent issues and highlight Forum discussions and possible follow-up actions in order to promote greater impact and dissemination of IGF discussions according to its Terms of Reference.
“The 10 distinguished members who will serve for a two-year term during the 2022-23 IGF cycles were appointed following an open call for nominations and in line with an equitably distributed, multi-stakeholder configuration of ministerial-level Government representatives, executive-level representatives of the private sector, civil society and the technical community, as well as “at-large” prominent persons in the field of digital policy,” part of the statement read.
The forum is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the information society that took place in 2005, it noted.
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